I (Luke) did not sleep well on the boat last night, but alas. We arrived at IJmuiden on schedule at 9:30 and we were bussed over to Amsterdam, where we check into our hotel nice and early. We spent the next 20 minutes wandering the area near our hotel in search of an ATM and, in the process, discovered we were in a very nice, almost ritzy part of the city (lots of high-end designer shops, and right near the famous museums). We managed to get some coffee and lunch, discovering that most people in Amsterdam spoke very good English in the process. Then we were off to the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum, two of the city's most well-known attractions. Van Gogh is Allison's favorite artist and I'm quite fond of Dutch landscapes, so we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Then we were back to our hotel for a quick bite to eat and then we hit the town. A few notes about Amsterdam: 1. Bikes and bikers are everywhere. You have to watch out all the time as they are literally everywhere, all over the city. It was actually very refreshing to see a city so unreliant on automobiles as this city is probably GREAT for the environment. (Luke's) Dad would be in heaven here. Before we leave one of us might get run over, though. The bikes make for tricky walking. 2: Unless you are keen on Argentinian food, it is almost impossible to get a bite to eat anywhere! I've never seen Argentinian restaurants anywhere before, but they are everywhere here! In our wanderings of the city, we stumbled upon Cafe Gollem, a small Belgian beer speciality bar/cafe on a nice little sidestreet slightly off the beaten path. We sampled a few and then found a nice little kebab (known as schoarma here) shop for dinner.
Allison's notes on Amsterdam: Amsterdam is called the city of canals and it really is true. It's hard to walk two blocks without encountering a canal. They are all lined with boats, many of which offer tours, but we didn't take any. Unfortunately, the beauty and fun of this city attract a few too many tourists (side note: the tourists on December 14th were NOTHING compared to the tourists on December 29th) but all in all it was very pleasant and we'd both definitely enjoy spending more time there someday. Also, the staircase in our hotel was super narrow and there is a picture below to prove it. We were on the 4th floor (translation for Americans: 5th floor--the 1st floor is called the ground floor here and the 2nd floor is the 1st and so on) so we spent lots of time on that staircase... The hotel was a very good deal though, and, as Luke mentioned, it was in a great location (far from the notorious red light district... although the internationally famous Amsterdam "coffee" shops were pretty much everywhere). The lunch that Luke mentioned was delicious--I really like the European breakfast sandwich of cheese and meat on a bread roll. Other than that, my main observation is that it's colder here than in Newcastle. And that, true to rumor, marijuana really is tolerated here. Coffee shops blatantly advertise it and people walk around reeking of it but no one even bats an eye."
Our first sighting of the Netherlands!
Luke in the Museumplein above, Allison below
Allison outside the Van Gogh museum (her favorite artist)
Outside the Rijksmuseum (home of the Dutch masters)
Amsterdam canals above and below
Two pictures above of Dam Square in Amsterdam
The incredibly steep staircase in our hotel (classic Amsterdam)
Above: Cafe Gollem (home to many wonderful Belgian beers)
Below: the beer store across the road and Luke and his special friend
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